The New York Rangers won Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series because they played with desperation.

The Canadiens will have to find that same level of desperation when the series returns to the Bell Centre Thursday (7 p.m., CBC, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio).

“(The Rangers) won more of the 50-50 battles last night and, for us, when we play our way, we’re dominant,” said veteran Steve Ott. “We can’t afford lulls like we had last night. We have to continue to push the pace, be strong on the forecheck and when we do that, we create chances. That’s a great team over there and you have to respect their game, but you have to respect your own as well.”

Ott said the margin of error is slim in this series and that’s reflected in the results to date. They best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 and there hasn’t been a blowout on either side.

Carey Price has done his job and Henrik Lundqvist, who came into the series with a losing record against Montreal, has a shutout along with a goals-against average of 1.89 and a .944 save percentage.

The Montreal offence has been inconsistent all season and that has been the case in these playoffs. Coach Claude Julien juggled his lines Tuesday. He moved Alex Radulov to a line with Alex Galchenyuk and Artturi Lehkonen, while Andrew Shaw took Radulov’s place alongside Phillip Danault and captain Max Pacioretty.

Some observers viewed this as a promotion of sorts for Galchenyuk and a demotion for Pacioretty, but Julien said he was simply looking for a spark and that he hasn’t decided whether to stick with those lines in Game 5.

Whatever he does, the Canadiens need more from Pacioretty. The team’s leading goal-scorer in the regular season has been limited to one assist in four games, but this isn’t the biggest concern.

Good teams are able to focus on stopping one player or one line and the Rangers’ leading goal-scorer, Chris Kreider, is looking for his first point.

Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers makes the first-period stop on Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of their playoff series at Madison Square Garden on April 16, 2017 in New York City.Bruce Bennett /
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But if Pacioretty isn’t scoring, he has to do more when he doesn’t have the puck. He failed to tie up Ryan McDonagh on what proved to be the winning goal Tuesday and hasn’t been caught up in the physical nature of the series.

“Mistakes happen and I’m not going to base anyone’s performance on one play,” said Julien, who went on to describe Pacioretty as a good captain. There have been suggestions that Pacioretty is hurting and he took a hard ride into the boards in Game 1 but, if he is injured, it’s not something that will be broadcast.

There might be some help on defence. While most of the Canadiens had an opportunity to rest Wednesday, a handful of extra players were on the ice and they were joined by Alexei Emelin, who has been sidelined by a lower-body injury. Emelin was skating hard and Julien said there was a possibility he could play in Game 5. He’ll skate Thursday morning and then meet with the team’s medical staff.

Emelin is the Canadiens’ most physical defenceman and this has been a physical series, although there were fewer hits in the two games in New York. There were 129 hits — 74 by the Rangers — in Game 2, but that number dropped to 72 in Game 3 and 68 in Game 4.

The Canadiens have made a point of trying to protect Price. Rick Nash collided with Price and received a penalty for his efforts.

There was no attempt to retaliate for the hit and that didn’t seem to bother anyone in the Montreal camp.

“This is the playoffs and everything is so tight and you don’t want to hurt your team by retaliating and taking a penalty,” said Paul Byron.

Julien shrugged off the incident by saying that Nash was simply going hard to the net in an attempt to score.

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